


Arriving in Askr

by Catydoll409



Series: The Summoner Caty [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catydoll409/pseuds/Catydoll409
Summary: This is the story of the beginning of Caty's adventures in the land of Askr as its Summoner. Rated T for salty language and violence.





	1. The Reality of Things

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for this first chapter for implied/very light abuse and drunk Dads.

I had zero going on in my life. Absolutely nothing going for me.

I sat in my community college lecture in the back, my computer open but on a black Word Document page. The date in the lower right-hand corner read Wendesday, February 1st. It was 2:23PM.

I didn't know what I was even doing in that class. I hated it. Writing was supposed to be my favorite thing in the world, but after two semesters of soul-crushing realization that long-prose was more or less dead, I was just showing up to class so I didn't have to be at the house all day.

Oh God, being in the house all day. Anything but that.

Even though I didn’t have any friends and hated my professors, I still thought it better to waste my days here than anywhere else.

In another 40-odd minutes, I'll be done. I'll spend the rest of my day playing Pokémon Roms on my computer and blasting music really loud in my headphones so no one bothers me.

_There's gotta be more to life than this,_ I thought. I begged for more than this.

I sat at a booth in the common area well into the night. As per usual, a janitor poked my shoulder around 10 o'clock to remind me to go home.

I took off my headphones, because after his poke he was trying to say something to me.

"Has your hair always been green?" he asked, perplexed. Most of the late-night workers knew of me by now. I'm that usually-brunette girl with bright red glasses that never leaves the building without being told to.

"No. I got it dyed yesterday." In a weird burst of depression-based 'who the hell cares'ery, I on a whim decided to fulfill my dream of having green hair. Was it worth the fight I got into when I got home? No. No it wasn't. But it still made me happy either way.

"Huh. Ya look like one of them Chinese cartoons my son-in-law likes," he said, shrugging and going back to sweeping.

I guess having "vaguely anime girl" energy is better than "depressed girl with a quarter life crisis" energy.

I took the bus home, and by the time I got back at 12, everyone was asleep or passed out shit-faced on the couch. Good.

I got changed and snuck back into the kitchen for a snack. That meant passing through the living room. Bastard was still there, snoring. Good. The small house was entirely quiet except for his noise, so I figured I could use that advantage to make some cereal or something without being detected.

I took one step. Another step.

** _BAM!!_ **

I hit the carpet like a sack of bricks and made a ton of noise. With what little moonlight shown in through the ratty curtains on the window, I saw him stir.

“Shut the fuck up, you lil’…!” he mumbled, pelting whatever he had in his hand at me, still half asleep.

I saw the TV remote coming towards me and I tried to figure out how to dodge it. I was in-between both couches that paralleled each other against the walls; not a lot of room to move either left or right, and I’d probably end up getting hit anyway. Going backward isn’t great; I might trip over the shoe again. So I rolled myself forward (how, I don’t know; didn’t figure I was that athletic) and the remote hit the couch to my side.

Easy peasy.

Immediately after that he was back to sleep. Good.

I made my bowl of cereal for an extremely late dinner, then got into bed. I was feeling _way _more tired than usual. By now my brain would usually be stirring about my day tomorrow. Exams, papers, forced short stories, waking up before Bastard, the works. Despite being so exhausted, I was freezing cold; I guess we didn’t pay the heating bill again. I got up and I got out my favorite robe. It was made of a thin material and was an off-white color. It even had a hood. Despite it being thin, it kept me warm enough to keep from shivering on nights like these. It was like a safety blanket I could wear with me. I crawled back into bed now and checked my phone. No messages, of course. No nothing.

Whatever. That suits me fine.

_What’s here that’s for me, anyway? _I thought. It's a thought I had every single night.

Then I drifted into a really, really deep sleep.


	2. "I Summon Thee!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summoner Caty will get used to her surroundings... eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Salty language warning, again.

When I woke up the next morning, I certainly wasn’t in my bed anymore.

“Huh… what the…?”

All I saw were blue skies and- a redhead?

“Oooh, you’re here! Then the ritual actually worked?”

What the fu-!?

I sat up and this redheaded chick is just in front of me in full-on armor and a cape. And I’m still in my robe! But it’s got gold stuff on it now…? I got the chance to investigate myself for only a minute before she continued.

“Ahem… Oh Great Hero form another world!” she said somewhat dramatically. “Thou hast come so far to fulfill your role in our legend!”

My role in your what? Hold the phone.

“What the-“ I barely stammered before she kept speaking. I guess she didn’t hear me.

“For our kingdom now stands on the very brink of ruin, and thou…” she paused, visibly taking a better look at me and contemplating something. “And thou…”

The girl kept thinking, then finally said with a slight pout: “Hold on. Are you really our Great Hero? You don’t look like the thee-and-thou type.”

“Of course I’m not!” I cried, standing up. Besides my robe, these clothes are definitely not the ones I fell asleep in. I was wearing light armor, at least compared to the redhead’s. “What the hell are you talking about!? Where am I? Am I still asleep…?” I asked, getting quieter each time. This is some dream.

“Huh? You wanna know where you are and how you got here?” she asked, as if I should already be aware of those things. “Guess that makes sense,” she conceded. “You’re in-“

She was cut off by sudden yelling.

“FOUND YOU!!”

The gruff voice nearly made me jump out of my skin.

The girl’s face became a scowl that replaced her half smile, half smirk. “Drat! How did one of those Emblians get here already? Stand back! I’ll take care of him somehow.”

_Take care of him? Emblians!?_ My mind raced with a million thoughts as the girl unholstered a **whole ass axe** and wielded it as if to fight.

“Now! Let’s move!” the girl said, running forward. A bit ahead of us was another guy wielding an axe. He didn’t look friendly.

I stayed close to the girl and tried to analyze what was going on. As soon as the guy spotted us, he ran at us. We were in some kind of clearing in front of a building. For some reason, I have no idea why, I said to the girl “Hey! Now’s a good time to strike!”

She nodded and preemptively struck the axe-guy. He hit the ground with little trouble.

_Holy shit; did we just kill him?_

“Whew! We took care of him,” she said, holstering her Axe again. “You’re a real natural.”

“Am I!?” I cried. “What does that even mean!?”

She winked and put her index finger to her chin. “My name’s Anna. I’m the commander of the Order of Heroes,” she said, as if that was supposed to answer my question.

“New question: What’s that?” I asked. One thing at a time, I guess.

“The Order of Heroes believes that Heroes should live free. Our enemies, however, enslave them- the fiends.”

W H A T ?

“This realm has gateways to the worlds where Heroes come from. Have you heard of the World of Awakening?” Anna said, completely oblivious to my confusion.

“No, but I think I’m still dreaming,” I say, holding my head a little so maybe it’ll stop spinning.

She laughed. “How about the World of Birthright? Or the World of Conquest? There are a lot more than that, too! The Emblian Empire, the side that guy was from, invades those worlds and binds their Heroes to their service. We fight for their freedom!”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with me?”

Looking contemplative, Anna said “I was desperate for help. I performed a summoning ceremony. And you just… appeared out of nowhere.”

“So how many goats did you have to kill to get my sorry-ass?” I asked.

“What?” Anna raised an eyebrow. “You’re not taking this very well,” she commented. I think she was trying to be coy, but she was just pissing me off.

“Do they _usually_ take this well!?”

Anna sighed. “We’ll talk more about all this later; we gotta get going.”

“Fine. Whatever,” I said. I started pinching myself as I followed along behind her.

This is a weird fucking dream and I want _out_.


	3. The Legend

Anna and I walked for what felt like forever until she suddenly stopped.

“Here should be far enough,” she said, then turned to me. “I guess I’ll start with this: First thing’s first, I summoned you here with the divine Breidablik. That’s the name of this relic I’ve brought.” She then unholstered the thing from a belt she was wearing.

“That’s a **gun**,” I said. It was a weird looking gun, but a gun nonetheless.

“It’s a what?” she asks. “It’s apparently a bow, but it doesn’t look like any bow I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s because it’s a **_gun_**! Give me that-!” I say, grabbing for the golden ‘bow’ in her hands without thinking. I’ve never actually handled a gun before, and I wasn’t sure quite what I was going to do with it once I got it in my hands. I figured, though, that it was better than this crazy woman holding it.

“Hey! Not so fast! I think,” she said, winking. “The legend also calls it ‘the true key’, which, if raised high, will summon the Great Hero who can fire it.”

“And you think that’s me?” _Maybe that’s why I instinctively went to grab it?_

“I do! After all, I fired you out of this thing,” she said nonchalantly.

“You fired _me_ out of the **gun**?”

“Are you gonna keep calling it that?”

“Yes!!”

Anna shrugged and smiled. “Alright, well, anyway, if the legends are true, this should be all yours. But I want to see you try to figure out how to-“

“THERE SHE IS! GET HER!”

“Aw, shit,” I said, less startled and more annoyed this time.

“Drat,” Anna said, frowning. “More of those Emblian soldiers. I can’t defeat them all by myself, and you’re not equipped to help me. You run while I hold them off-“

I grabbed the ‘Breidablik’ out of her hand. “Now I’m equipped.”

“Wait, but that’s-!”

I fired a shot at the on-coming Axe fighter, but instead of a bullet, a ball of light came out of it and then-

A guy!?

A guy with longish blue hair and a bow came tumbling out of the ball of light and hit the axe fighter like a bullseye.

“-loaded…” Anna said, finishing her previous thought but looking completely dumbfounded. “You just… picked up the Breidablik, and you can already use it…”

“Ah!” The man said, startled and confused. He picked himself up and quickly examined his surroundings. “Where am I?”

“D-dude, did I just-?” I examined the gun again while Anna went to the guy’s side, quickly getting him up to speed. He introduced himself as Virion, or something.

“Hey! Direct us again- like you did for me before!” Anna said, snapping me out of my thoughts. An archer was approaching.

“Oh, uh-“ I took a second to observe what was going on. “New guy, you poke at him, and you finish him off, Anna!”

They quickly followed my orders, and the archer was taken out.

“There! We won again. And it’s all thanks to you, uh…”Anna stopped for a moment, realizing she never got my name.

_Dude. I could tell her anything. I could tell her my name is anything_, I thought about it long and hard for a moment. I hated my real name. I always wished that, if I could, I’d go around with a nickname I went by on the internet since I was 12 and first thought up my username.

“I’m… Caty. C-a-t-y.”

“Ah, Caty. Got it. That’s easy enough to remember,” she smiled. “Let’s keep going and get us and this Virion back to the castle.”

On the way, Anna and I got to talking again.

“Y’know, none of us in the Order of Heroes can actually summon these Heroes.”

“Really?” I ask. “But you summoned me.”

“I already explained this,” she said, furrowing her brow slightly. “We need you to help save our kingdom, Great Hero Caty.”

“You can stop calling me that,” I said, adjusting my glasses.

“Well, it is kinda formal,” she conceded. “But anyway, we need you to help us fight Emblia. If you can help us recruit heroes to stop Emblia from enslaving them, then…”

“But _we’re_ not doing the enslaving, right?”

“Of course not!” Anna said, offended.

_I’m not quite seeing the difference, but, okay._

“But… Now that you’re here, I just know that we’ll win our fight against the empire, Caty.”

“If you insist…” I said, still pretty apprehensive about this and expecting to wake up any minute.


	4. World of Zenith: Prince with Golden Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how many more of these "story" heavy chapters there are gonna be. At least a couple more. Then I'll probably write about Caty summoning story-important characters [Fae, Y!Tiki, etc].

As soon as Anna and I (and Virion, who departed as soon as we arrived) got to a big castle, we ran into a boy with dark blue hair and golden armor like Anna’s.

“Commander Anna?” the boy asked as he approached us. “You’re alright!” His glance quickly turned to me, and he added “Wait, who is this with you?”

I waved awkwardly.

“Could it be…?” he asked mostly to himself, in complete and utter disbelief.

“It is, Prince Alfonse! The legend is true. I raised the Breidablik, and then Caty appeared! Oh, speaking of which-“ She took the holster belt off her waist and gave it to me. “Might be easier to carry that with this.”

“Oh, sorry- I forgot to ask.” I quickly put the belt on and put away the gun.

“Our Great Hero is here… and we can use the divine weapon, too!”

“I thought you said you’d stop calling me that,” I grumbled.

“You know what the Breidablik does! It shouts heroes right out of it!”

“Yeah, I used an archer to hit an axe guy in the face.”

Alfonse, I think his name was, he looked at me like I was crazy. “So… Are you from another world?”

“I think so,” I answered. “I’m from Pennsylvania, USA. Uh, _Earth_,” I quickly added, seeing the confused looks on their faces.

“Well… It’s nice to meet you. I’m Alfonse, Prince of Askr and member of the Order of Heroes. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah same, I guess,” I said. I put my hand out, and he shook it. Cool, so that’s a thing people here do also.

“I’m sorry to ask this of you so soon after we’ve met, but I have need of your help,” Alfonse explained.

“Yeah, Anna told me some about that. You need me to help you like… recruit people?”

He nodded. “Our order is devoted to fighting the Emblian Empire, which invades worlds where Heroes are from.”

“Okay, simple enough. Empire’s evil, so we gotta go take them out.”

“One of these is the World of Mystery,” he said, like I knew what he meant. “I have dire news. The empire has newly taken over that world.”

“Oh no… So what’s that mean?”

“We need to make our way to the World of Mystery to free it,” Alfonse said, eyebrow raised. “You really don’t seem to be understanding anything.”

I shrug. “This is a weird dream anyway. I’ll be awake soon enough.”

Alfonse and Anna shot each other a look.

“…Seriously,” I added, because… If this is real, then…?

“And, Commander Anna,” Alfonse said, shaking his head and ignoring me. “There’s one more thing: I spotted someone odd with the soldiers near here. It was a strange man. Not an imperial soldier. Nor a Hero from the World of Mystery now under their control.”

“A strange man, you say?” She put an index finger to her chin as she thought. “Did he seem allied with the Emblian Empire?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. He wears a mask and keeps his face a secret even from them.”

I shrugged. “Maybe he’s just really ugly.”

Anna also shrugged, understanding my point. “Maybe.”

Alfonse exhaled sharply. “Regardless, now we must rush into battle. Soldiers approach!”

“Huh- from where?”

From behind us, three soldiers from (I’m assuming Emblia) approached the building.

“Wow, ballsy. Let’s go get ‘em!”

As if it was something I’d done all my life, I directed Anna and Alfonse flawlessly to defeat the three soldiers. I was surprising even myself. Could I always do this?

Before we had the chance to celebrate any, that masked guy Alfonse mentioned showed up, I think. Either way there was suddenly a guy on a horse wearing a mask approaching us.

“Who are you?” Anna called out. “Is this the guy you were talking about, Alfonse?”

“You! Tell us- are you a soldier in the Emblian Empire? If so, then you stand on the side of evil,” Alfonse said with a straight face. I barely stifled a laugh.

“The empire shouldn’t be entering the worlds of Heroes- let alone conquering them!” Alfonse continued.

“Oh, really?” the man replied. “And I suppose you want us to close the gateways, too?” He scoffed. “In your dreams.” He turned his horse around and started to leave.

“How dare you!” Alfonse cried. “Where are you going!? Get back here and answer for yourself!”

The man completely ignored Alfonse and continued on his way.

“Damn fellow,” Alfonse spat. “He’s gone.”

“Asshole,” I commented.

“Those gateways he mentioned, Caty…” Anna said, “they connect out world to those where Heroes live. The royalty of the Askran Kingdom, like Alfonse, have the ability to open these gateways.”

“And the royalty of the Emblian Empire are able to close the gateways,” Alfonse added.

“’Kay, sounds nice and balanced,” I said.

“One would assume,” Alfonse said. “Long ago, our two families worked in harmony to open and close these ways to other worlds. Then Embla began using its power for evil, leaving all of the gates open. The empire began invading those worlds. We cannot slam the gates shut. Only they can.”

“Great. There’s always a hang-up to these things,” I said.

“We can fight them, however. That’s why we Askrans formed the Order of Heroes- to stop the Emblians,” Anna said. “Now, let’s hurry to the World of Mystery.” She turned to Alfonse. “Alfonse, your sister has been on a scouting mission. I fear that she may be in danger.”

“Dammit! Then we definitely have to get going. Goodness knows what she’s gotten herself into-“ Alfonse said, rushing off.

“So is she a bit of an airhead or just useless?”

“She always means well, but sometimes can get in over her head,” Anna said, winking and smiling.

“Got it, then we better get a move on,” I said, following after Alfonse with Anna right behind me.


	5. World of Zenith: Proof of Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are battle scenes.

Soon after Anna, Alfonse, and I got to the World of Mystery, as they called it, we ran into another girl clad in gold and white like the other two Order of Heroes members.

“Commander Anna! Brother!” She looked relieved to see us, but still slightly upset. “What has taken you so long to get here?”

“Sorry, Sharena. We had to battle our way here.”

“These guys really suck,” I said.

“Huh? Wait, who are you? And- you’re holding the Breidablik… It’s glowing!”

“Anna says it’s still loaded,” I reply. “By the way, I’m Caty. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s great to meet you!” She grinned ear to ear. “Our group has hoped beyond hope that you might come to save us!” She grabbed my free hand with both of her’s. “My name’s Sharena. I’m Alfonse’ darling little sister.”

“Please, calm yourself,” Alfonse said. I guess she gets excited like this a lot. “Not only is she the Great Hero, but she’s also a wonderful tactician. We’re already in good hands.”

“Eh? I’m not a great tactician; those soldiers just move really slow.”

“Huh?” Sharena looked at me funny, as did Alfonse and Anna.

“What? Is water burning somewhere?”

“Either way, that’s amazing,” Sharena said. “And, Great Hero-“

“Seriously, stop calling me that.”

“Oh, sorry! Caty- you’re as great as I imagined. I’m going to be your number one fan!”

I smiled a little. I think her and I could get along.

“What’s the situation here, by the way?” Alfonse asked, getting back down to business.

“In short? Absolutely awful. The empire has taken control of a Hero from this world. She swoops through the skies, a fearsome figure, in all red.”

“A red flier from Mystery? It sounds like Princess Minerva. This battle will be tough…”

We cautiously walked forward, but immediately we were spotted by Minerva. Alfonse tried to talk her down from fighting, but it was to no avail. Immediately the redhaired lady on a wyvern and three other women, all on Pegasi (which, holy crap).

Immediately the three pegasi riders were on us. Anna before was briefing me on something- weapon triangle? The green haired pegasus rider approached, I directed Sharena to fight her. A blue haired and pink haired pegasus rider were right behind her, I told Anna and Alfonse to fight them. He had a disadvantage, but I needed Sharena fighting the green haired one.

The three went down relatively quickly, just leaving Minerva. She approached and looked about to swing her axe at Sharena.

“Ah! Sharena, fall back!”

Sharena tried to, but Minerva was just too fast. Alfonse quickly jumped in and protected his sister from the blow, then countered back. The direct hit was enough to halt her in her tracks. She fell back slightly.

“Very well done, Prince Alfonse. You have proved strong enough to break our contract with Veronica. And so we are free once more. I give you my oath that we will not attack your kingdom. Farewell.” Her and the other Pegasus fliers then left.

“Phew. That was exhausting,” I said.

“No, seriously! You’re such a great tactician! Did you even see yourself out there? Well- of course you didn’t, but- I think I’m going to be very fond of you, Caty.”

I smiled. “I think I’d be cool with that.” Dammit. Now I’m getting attached. I’m starting to dread waking up.

“Ah! Now that we’re done, we should be heading back to the castle. Now that we’ve left it unoccupied, it may be under attack.”

“Dammit, that would be fast,” I said.

“Emblia is a lot quicker than we’d like them to be,” Alfonse said, hurrying on ahead. “This possibly could have been a distraction.”

“But.. then what are we supposed to do…?” Sharena mumbled to herself with a frown, following after her brother.

“What’s done is done,” Anna said. “Now let’s make haste and get back to Askr.”


	6. World of Zenith: Heroes in Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X a n d e r.
> 
> Sudden third-person opening because I wanted to wax poetic for a minute.
> 
> Also, salty language warning again.

Veronica stood practically on the doorstep of the kingdom she hated so very much. She stood blank-eyed, though her soul was alight with dark fury.

She spoke to herself in barely above a whisper. “Scurry, scurry, little Heroes. Steal for me. Spread destruction. Kill all those who stand in your way.”

“This kingdom must fall,” she said, slightly louder for the dark armor-clad paladin next to her to hear her. “Once it’s gone, no one will oppose me.”

Xander stared forward at the building. In his dark red eyes, he looked more contemplative than angry. He had only been with Veronica for a short time, but she spoke endlessly of her wish to destroy the the Askran kingdom. None of it meant much to him, personally. All he wanted was to grant her happiness.

“Every Hero, in every world… they’ll all be mine. Every last one,” Veronica continued.

“Do you think they will remain in the World of Mystery?” Xander asked, trying to see if she were willing to have a more-normal conversation with him. Those times were so fewer and father between recently.

“Yes. By the time they return, this will be nothing but ash and rubble.”

He thought he heard voices from inside. “I think you have greatly miscalculated how long they’d take on their errand.”

“So be it. They will burn along with this retched eyesore.”

Xander nodded, hearing the Order of Heroes approach.

\--

Alfonse, Sharena, Anna, and I rushed back to the castle and, sure enough, right outside was a… small girl with a really big crown-thing?

“So be it. They will burn along with this retched eyesore,” the tiny girl said, her voice empty and without emotion. Not that I think she was talking to anyone in particular?

“We won’t allow it, Princess Veronica!” Alfonse shouted, brandishing his sword. “And I will personally never forget this violation of my kingdom!”

I leaned towards Sharena. “Who’s the 7 year old? That’s our enemy?”

“This is so not the time,” Sharena answered, taking out her lance. Anna also took out her axe.

“Hm, it _is_ you. After I went to so much trouble to arrange your playdate,” Veronica said, having a seemingly very delayed reaction to us showing up.

Her empty, weirdly sad eyes fell to me, but her brow furrowed ever so slightly. “Now, who are YOU, stranger? You have that silly relic.” She half gestured to my gun. “Then you must be the legendary summoner.”

“Uh… y-yeah! That’s right! That’s who the fuck I am!” I said, trying to sound threatening. Alfonse looked at me in wide-eyed disbelief. Sharena and Anna both made the “cut it out” motion with their hands.

Veronica scoffed ever so slightly. “No matter. It simply means that you must be the first to die.” She half looked up to a guy next to her. “Xander!”

A guy in purple and black armor looked down at me. His red eyes pierced right into my soul. He didn’t look angry, or anything. Just determined. He wore a thin, vine-like black crown around his head. He had soft-looking blonde hair that went over his one eye slightly. His scowl gave him the slightest bit of a frown, but his clenched expression showed off his jawline. He…

Oh no. He’s hot.

“You wish this one slain, Princess Veronica? As you wish.”

“Oh shit-!” That’s significantly less or more hot. All depends.

“Xander! You know better than that!” Alfonse shouted. “Why are you working with Veronica?! You know this is madness!”

“And so madness it is,” he said, unsheathing his black and purple sword to match his armor. It lightly crackled with electricity.

“Don’t worry, Caty! We’ll protect you!” Sharena said.

“Get ready, everyone! Let’s show this rotten princess what the Order of Heroes can really do!”

Quickly an Archer and Swordsman approached from the left and right. Anna was struck by the archer and Sharena went after the Swordsman. Anna swung her axe, but missed.

“Alfonse, help Anna!” I said.

“But what about you?” Alfonse answered.

“Just do it!”

  
He did so, but that was exactly what _he_ wanted. In the blink of an eye, that Xander guy was right in front of me.

“Bad move, little Summoner,” he said, swinging his huge sword down at me.

Like always, I took a moment to survey my options. I could dodge, but that’s not going to stop his assault. Anna, Alfonse, and Sharena would never make it in time. If they threw their weapons, they’d certainly be badly hurt either trying to get it back or trying to defend themselves afterword. And even if they did throw it, there’s not a very good chance they’d even hit Xander. I had to fight. I pointed my Breidablik up at him.

“**I t ‘ s l o a d e d**!” I hear Anna shout as I fire.

A bright light came out of the gun, and from that light came a girl with pink hair and a black and white dress. A maid dress!?

“Ah! H-holy-!” the girl cried.

“Agh!”

The girl went flying into Xander, knocking him off his horse.

Anna, Alfonse, and Sharena all briefly watched this display before going back to their respective Bad Guy to finish them off.

The probably-a-maid bopped back up with gusto. “I-I’m okay!” she said. “Ah- Lord Xander!?”

Xander got back up and swung his sword at her without warning. She barely dodged.

“Hey, I don’t think that’s your Xander,” I said to the girl. “By the way, I’m Caty. You’re gonna be fighting with me now.”

“Apparently not, I think! But, okay! My name’s Felicia! Do you need a weapon?” she asked, handing me a dagger. “Go for it!”

I nodded and approached Xander, slashing at him with the knife. He stopped it with his sword.

“D-did you seriously think that would work?” he asked, pushing against me.

“I-I hoped it would…!” I said, barely able to stay on my feet. I couldn’t look at him in the face, or I’d definitely get weak at the knees.

“I’m sorry!” Felicia cried before running around behind him and throwing a dagger at him. He hit the floor, knocked out.

The sudden lack of force against me caused me to also hit the ground. “Ouch!” _This pain… This can’t be a dream, can it?_ I thought, the realization hitting me like a ton of bricks.

Before anyone else could, Felicia was at my side and helped me back onto my feet. “Is everything alright? What’s going on with Lord Xander?”

“Well, it’s a long story, but-“ I began to explain, before Veronica cut me off.

“Left all alone,” she said, gazing at Xander specifically but not speaking to him. “Again? How dull. I’ll go console myself back home with a cup of tea.” She put her hand forward, palm out, toward Xander and suddenly he was lifting himself up off the ground.

_I guess she healed him?_ I thought, prepping myself for Round 2.

Veronica, with more trouble than I suppose she expected, got herself up on Xander’s horse. “We’re leaving.”

Wordlessly, Xander stood up. He shot me a puzzled look before climbing onto his horse as well and going on his way.

“That foolish princess is retreating with Xander,” Anna said.

Alfonse sighed. “The battle’s won, but this didn’t resolve a thing. The empire will invade again soon enough.”

“Stubborn girl,” Sharena said. “Why can’t we just talk through this. These invasions are crazy.”

“So this happens, like a lot? Her and Xander are door-to-door salesman, but exceptionally more violent?”

“Eh?” Sharena tilted her head. “Just- honestly, Veronica needs to grow up already. She has no sense of diplomacy.”

“She’s 7,” I said.

“She’s actually around the same age as us,” Alfonse said. “Only a couple of years younger.”

“Damn… I’m really bad at this.”

“Um… if I may… Can I… please ask what’s going on here?” Felicia said, wide-eyed but clearly looking worried for having interrupted us.

“Don’t worry; Caty and I’ll get you caught up to speed,” Sharena said, smiling reassuringly. “Let’s go inside.” She took Felicia by the arm and lead her in the castle.

Alfonse turned to me and smiled a little. “You were really something out there. Thank you again for your help.”

I laugh. “It’s no biggie. I do what I can.”

He nodded and left as well, leaving just me and Anna.

“So how long is this thing gonna be loaded?” I ask.

“I think you have one more shot, but, here. Come with me. I wanna show you something.”


	7. Summoning Fae

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out I got Fae **after I got Xander** originally, which just feels wrong. So we'll pretend.

On the way to wherever Anna wanted to take me, she gave me a small tour of the castle. It was pretty big, but I figured I’d be able to get around eventually. After we looped around the entire perimeter, we ended up back in the main entrance hall.

“And, finally, here’s the most important place I wanted to show you.” Anna walked through the hall to the back, where there was an open doorway to what looked like a garden of some kind with a big stone in the middle.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“This is a very special place to Askrans. Legend has it that the Great H- er, sorry, the Summoner, you, would come to this spot specifically to summon allies.”

“It’s like a good luck thing?”

“Yeah, more or less,” she grinned. “So try it! There should be enough orbs to summon one more ally.”

“Orbs?”

“Yeah, they’re these small, crystal balls that you load into the gun to summon heroes. It can hold 20 at a time. You spend 5 for each summon.”

“Got it. So I’ve got 5 left?”

“Yup! So try it. Point your Breidablik at the stone, and see what happens.”

“Do I like.. picture who I want or something?”

“If you have someone in mind…?”

_I don’t. I have no idea what’s gonna come out of this thing._ I took a deep breath. I’d like… a friend. A stalwart companion. Someone tough, but kind. Someone to help me keep smiling. For as long as this lasts.

“Okay. I got it!”

“Then go for it!” Anna cheered.

I fired another shot.

**Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! **

…?

**Ching!**

“Ah!”

Suddenly the rock lit up and a puff of smoke came out of it.

And then, suddenly…

“Whoa!! Where am I!?” A small, cheery voice suddenly could be heard. As the smoke cleared, I saw I summoned a…

6 year old. What?

Anna looked at the girl, then at me. “I think she’s from World of Binding.”

The girl was small, only coming up to about my waist, if that. She had messy short pink hair and a weird mark on her forehead. She was wearing all orange and looked quite comfy. After that I noticed her elf-ears.

“Hey, are you an elf?”

“Nuh! But guess what?”

“What?” I said.

“I'm the last Dee... Dee?” She put her hand to her chin, clearly trying to remember what the phrase she wanted was. “Oh! Divine Dragon!”

“Oh, right! She’s Fae, a manakete,” Anna said.

“A… dragon!? You’re a dragon!?”

“Yeah! I’m a dragon! Wanna see?” She reached into her parcel she had with her and pulled out a bright blue stone.

“Ah- Not inside!” Anna said. “How about you two get to know each other, and I’ll go check on Sharena and Felicia.”

“Got it,” I said, then watched the redhead leave. Now it’s just me and the child.

“How old are you, anyway?” I ask.

Fae shot me a confused glance, really thinking about my question. “Years old? Ohh… It’s a big number. Or that’s what I’m told.”

_Guess that makes sense. _“I’m 19.”

“Oh, I can count to that! I think.”

I couldn’t help but smile. She’ll probably exhaust me, eventually, but for now I think her and I could be good friends.

“So, am I here to help you out?”

“Yeah, I think so. Let’s walk.” I held out my hand and she grabbed it. Then we walked together, kinda like a parent and child. It was cute. “Anna showed me what room you’d be staying in before I summoned you.”

“Wow!! You summoned me!? You’re so cool… uh…”

“Caty. Sorry. My name’s Caty.” The more I stuck around here, the more I realized that this might be my life now. And I absolutely loved it.

“Caty! Okay! I’ll remember that. I like your hair.”

“Thanks! It’s.. definitely natural…” _God I’m gonna hate when this grows out._

“Huh?”

“Nothin’.”

As Fae and I walked, she told me a lot about her home-world; about the Nabata Desert and Hawkeye and Sophia. She said she had just recently started an adventure, but she was pulled away from it by me. Woops. I promised her that I’d make it up to her eventually.

When we approached the door to her new room, she said to me “So, Caty; can you tell me about your world?”

I think I accidentally started having war-flashbacks in front of her.

“Caty?”

“Huh? Sorry. Maybe some other time.”

“Okay…” she hung her head a little, feeling bad for upsetting me.

“It’s just tough, and not something I wanna think about right now.” I petted her head. Her hair was really soft. She giggled.

“Okay, Caty! But you can tell me when you wanna.”

“Got it. You just make yourself at home here.” I looked across the hall; my bedroom was directly parallel her’s. “If you need me, my bedroom is there.”

“Okay! Thank you, Caty!” She happily went into her new room to investigate, closing the door behind her.

“Huh… I think this is gonna work. I think-“

“Caty?” a voice called out to me.

“Huh? Oh, Sharena.”

“Hey! I was wondering, like… Do you wanna hang out? If not, you can rest.”

“No no! Let’s hang out!” _Anything to keep me from falling asleep. I think I’d rather just stay here forever._


	8. Tea Time with Sharena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sharena is fun.

If Fae is gonna be like a daughter, then Sharena is definitely gonna be like a sister to me. Her and I went on a tea break, and she is just about the coolest and most ecstatic person about everything that I’ve ever met. Her pure zeal for life is almost contagious. She’s like birthday parties and nice hugs all wrapped into one.

She told me all about her mother and father, about Alfonse and Anna. Apparently that redhead has about a hundred sisters that live all across the different worlds. They like to scam each other out of money. I can’t wait to see that in action. She also told me about how Alfonse has this silly promise he made to himself about not getting too close with the other heroes like Sharena does (for some reason to the effect of, when they have to say goodbye it hurts less or something). We both figured that wouldn’t last too long. Besides, I’ve already filed the adoption papers for Fae.

“You know, this is just so exciting,” Sharena said for about the fifth time during our conversation. She couldn’t help herself from smiling so much. “I mean it! Sure, Anna and I can have ‘girl talks’, but… She sometimes gets wrapped up in finances and army management, and… It’s just really nice to have a casual talk like this.”

I laugh. “She does sound busy a lot. I’m guessing once more people show up, we will be, too. But for now I don’t have much else to do.”

“Exactly! Plus I just want to get to know you better,” she said, sipping some tea.

“Eh. I’m not that interesting,” I said, stuffing my face with a cookie.

“I think you are! You must be very special to be our Gr- er, sorry, our Summoner,” Sharena had a hard time catching herself, but out of appreciation for me she tried not to use that weird title I didn’t like.

“I dunno. I’m just some almost-college dropout with not a lot going for me and really bad depression,” I say like it’s a joke, but she looked at me with deep concern in her eyes.

“Caty… Are you sad about leaving Earth?” she asked quietly, thinking that what I said may have been the fault of her and her friends.

“What? Hell no. God no. This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” I answer.

“Oh! Good. I thought, maybe…” her voice trailed off.

“I’m happy to be out of that hellhole. In fact, I’d like to never go back.”

She smiled a little, but clearly wasn’t sure what to say to that. “So, you’re adjusting well.”

“Definitely. I’m just…” I was still caught between being convinced this wasn’t a dream and being cautious still that it was. “I wanna believe in this.”

“You still think it’s a dream? Anna mentioned that. It’s worrying. Do you have really intense dreams a lot?”

“Yeah, I can lucid dream, kinda. Like when you know you’re in a dream, and you can control yourself and even what’s happening in the dream?” I explain.

“Okay! So that’s it. If this is a dream like that, then.. Could you make yourself fly and stuff?” Sharena asked.

“Yeah, I’ve done that.”

“Then do it!”

“Oh!” _Like, to test if this is a dream or not._ “Got it, okay.”

And so for the next 5 minutes I was trying to make myself fly. Much to the amusement of Sharena, though she tried to pretend not to laugh.

“Shit. This isn’t working.”

“Then… I think you’re awake,” Sharena said calmly, with a soft smile. Clearly she was trying to reassure me of what was going on.

I shrug. “Guess we won’t really know until I wake up again here tomorrow.”

“Does falling asleep in a dream really end it like that?” Sharena asked, genuinely puzzled.

“That’s usually how it goes on TV and stuff,” I comment.

“What’s TV?”

Dammit, right. “Nevermind.”

“You know,” Sharena said, changing the subject, “I never got to tell you how impressive you were earlier in fighting Xander.”

“Well, Alfonse and Anna both said I was pretty cool looking.”

“But, seriously! How do you do it? You can just make decisions like that-“ she snapped her fingers, “without even a second thought.”

“It can’t be that special. I just see something bad happening, I take a second to think about things, and then I do what’ll not end up getting me hurt or otherwise.”

“But that’s really difficult to do! Usually when people are under pressure, they can’t think all-together.”

I thought about it. Maybe it’s special.

“It’s like… Xander strode up to me, right? He swung his sword down, and then in that time before it would have hit me, I thought about all my options. I thought about how I couldn’t ask anyone for backup, because you guys were busy. I didn’t want you to throw your weapons, because that would leave you defenseless, and trying to fetch your weapons back would probably be a nightmare. I was defenseless, except for my Breidablik; I figured if I fired a shot, it would stun him. Dodging wasn’t an option, because he would have kept on swinging until he hit me.”

“You thought of all of that in the span of about a half a second,” Sharena said, summing up what I just said.

“Yeah? I guess now that you put it like that, that is kind of weird…”

“Oh! Wait wait- I know. You can slow down time!”

“I definitely can’t slow down time.”

“Then you’re able to think really quickly?”

“It’s… It’s kind of like this one movie back on Earth- this one guy gets shot at a bunch of times, and then in something called ‘bullet time’, everything gets slower for him as he dodges all the stuff. It’s kind of like that. I can take that second and think of a bunch of different responses to what’s happening. I just figured everyone could do that, but didn’t. Or were bad at it.”

“No, definitely not.” Sharena seemingly realized something, then said “Is that why you kept saying to Anna that everyone was moving slowly?”

“Yeah, sometimes I can’t tell if it’s just stuff being slow or me being really perceptive.”

“Nope, it’s all you. Emblian soldiers are pretty fast.”

Huh. “That’s neat. I guess there is something cool about me after all.”

“I think that ability is why you’re our Summoner. Your perception is exactly what we need on the battlefield.”

“Yeah, I can see your point. Plus like.. for some reason, directing you guys felt really natural to me. Like I always should have been doing this.”

“Even better!” Sharena beamed.

“So.. uh.. not to change the subject.. but…” I felt my face burning as I even _thought _about asking a burning question of mine.

“Uh-oh. I know that face. Do you have a crush on Alfonse? Or Anna? Or…?”

“Huh!? No! Listen- I do actually happen to like girls, but it’s not a crush on any of you guys.” Damn, that was observant of her.

“Oh! But,” she smirked, “still got it. I know that face anywhere. Go on, though.”

“Can you tell me… uh…”

Sharena’s smile practically fell off her face. “Xander.”

“Look- he’s a very fine specimen of man and I want to know more about him, okay?”

“He tried to kill you today!”

“I like a man that likes to listen and be helpful!” I joke, but I was being half serious.

She sighed, deeply. “Xander… he’s from a World of Birthright. Not Conquest.”

“So what’s that mean?”

“It’s hard to explain, but basically each World has a set, like.. storyline to it? And we can’t interfere with it. His world is one where his sister, a girl named Corrin, had to choose between his country, Nohr, and his rival Ryoma’s country, Hoshido. She sided with Hoshido.”

“Is that Xander pissed about his sister?”

“He’s pissed about a couple other things, probably. But that’d be the big thing.”

“What’s making him work with Veronica, though?”

“We have absolutely no idea,” Sharena shook her head. “We’ve tried asking, but…”

“He doesn’t seem like the type to be too into talking.”

“Not at all. Veronica has him wrapped around her little finger and we just can’t… help.”

“That sucks… Do you think he’d tell me?”

“No! He wants to _kill you_, remember? And I don’t think he’ll find much humor in your crush.”

“Hey! It’s not supposed to be funny! I just.. think he’s really handsome. And… I dunno. I can see there’s something bothering him.”

Sharena shrugged. “We’re bound to run into him again. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

I nodded. “I won’t let him kill me, don’t worry.”

“Well… as long as you mean that.”

Sharena then looked out the window and saw the moon hanging idly in the sky. “Ah! It’s really late! We should get to sleep.” She turned back to me. “Thanks so much for this. Let’s meet up again sometime?”

“For sure,” I said, still a little worried about the thought of going to sleep and… not being here.

Sharena then shook her head, noticing my expression. “It’ll all be alright. I’ll see you in the morning, okay? I promise.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“_Promise_?” Sharena said as a question this time.

I smiled. “_Promise_.”


End file.
